נָשַׁם
𐤍𐤔𐤌
nâsham
H5395 verb
SILEX Entry
Definition
A verbal root meaning to pant, gasp for air, or breathe heavily, especially as a result of physical effort or distress. In biblical usage, it appears in contexts describing the act of gasping, exhaling forcefully, or being out of breath, often associated with exhaustion or the moment of death. The semantic range may include a figurative sense of expiring or perishing by loss of breath.
Semantic Range
to pant, to gasp for air, to exhale forcibly, to breathe heavily, to expire, to perish (by loss of breath or exhaustion)
Root / Etymology
Root נ־שׁ־ם (נָשַׁם). Derived from a basic verb root indicating the action of exhaling, breathing out, or panting. Related roots in Semitic languages indicate heavy breathing, exhalation, or panting. The form is likely denominative from the onomatopoetic sense of heavy breathing.
Historical & Contextual Notes
The verb נָשַׁם appears rarely in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Isaiah 42:14), where it primarily refers to intense exhalation, panting, or gasping, sometimes connected with the exertion of the deity or, metaphorically, the final breath. It is distinct from נָשַׁף (nashaf, 'to blow' in the sense of wind or breath) and נָפַח (naphaḥ, 'to breathe', 'to blow'), which often have broader, more active senses of blowing or inspiring breath. Standard translations frequently narrow the range to 'destroy', likely under interpretive influence, but the base meaning relates directly to breath, and any destructive sense is secondary, arising from the final act of exhalation at death. The verb should not be conflated with fundamental ideas of destruction but understood as a physical or metaphorical loss of breath. The word is not used in later Hebrew in the sense of describing ethnic or religious identity, and its semantic field remained stable across the biblical periods.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
a primitive root; properly, to blow away, i.e. destroy; destroy.
Bantu Hebrew
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נשׁם (n-š-m) — to pant, to gasp, to exhale heavily
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H8580 | תַּנְשֶׁמֶת | the heavy-breather |
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H5395-01 |
אֶשֹּׁ֥ם | eshom | HVqi1cs |
I will gasp | I will pant | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H5395-01 |
Isaiah 42:14 | אֶשֹּׁ֥ם | eshom | HVqi1cs |
I will gasp | I will pant |